This invention relates to wave generators for recreation facilities such as swimming pools and water rides, and more particularly to wave generators and related pools and water rides which generate waves through the use of caissons.
Waves are often generated in the water of swimming pools, river water rides and similar recreational facilities through the use of various hydraulic or pneumatic/hydraulic wave generators. Many of these wave generators produce waves through the use of compartments called caissons installed in the water. Generally speaking, each of these caissons has a fluid-tight upper portion and a lower portion which extends beneath the quiescent level of the water in which the waves are to be generated. Each caisson communicates with the swimming pool or water ride in which it is installed through a submerged passage. Some typical wave generators are described and shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,661 issued to Baker on Jul. 7, 1981 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,077 issued to Raike on Mar. 14, 1989.
Previously, caissons have been built out of concrete so as to withstand the pressures produced on the water within them which cause waves to be generated. The concrete caissons have been constructed by building forms in which concrete was to be poured and then assembling grids of reinforcement rods or rebars within the forms to hold the concrete in place during use. Typically, where one of the vertical walls of a caisson was one foot thick, grids of rebars had to be set within the forms so that they were about three inches from each of the two vertical sides of the concrete walls.
Constructing these caissons was a labor intensive task which would typically involve the use of eight or ten persons over the course of six or eight weeks of time. The time required to install the caissons is often important to owners of the facilities at which they are being installed. Normally it is desirable to open wave swimming pools or water rides in the middle or later part of May to be ready for the summer season. However, construction normally cannot begin until the end of winter and the end of spring rains which might make construction impracticable. A six to eight week caisson construction schedule can often make it difficult to have the facility completed and fully operational in May.
Additionally, concrete caisson walls have tended to wear and crack as a result of the forces produced while waves are being generated. This has required repeated maintenance and has decreased the normal useful life of the caissons. Furthermore, concrete walls within the caissons are often not as smooth as desirable, adversely affecting the generation of waves.